Natural Progression
by TitansGirl
Summary: Garfield Logan's thoughts are dominated mostly by video games, cartoons, and saving the world as a teenage superhero. But what happens when a certain cloaked teammate shuffles through the doors with a book under her arm? Any of his rational thought flies out the window. Love struck? Perhaps. Will he do something about it? Maybe. Just maybe he will. BBxRae fluff and whatnot.


**Disclaimer: **I don't own the Teen Titans.

**Author's Note: **Hello everybody! Here I am again with yet another silly Beast Boy and Raven story. This one will be relatively lengthy in chapter content, but number-wise, only a few chapters. But it's honestly super fun to write, and I have a lot of wonderful ideas from my amazing and dear friend, _KayMoon24, _who is just truly a doll! :D And of course, special thanks goes to the lovely _Rotating Owl_ for her support. I hope you all enjoy this first chapter, and if not, I promise, I'll try super hard next time to make it spectacular!

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_Chief Tawaba once told me that humans were only a hair of existence in the timeline of the history of the universe. If that really is true, then I wonder if that microscopic part of that hair of time that I spent with her...could become something more._

Beast Boy's emerald eyes snapped open as he shot up in bed, alarm blaring at an unnatural volume beside him. His breath faded from his lips in a huff as a small groan floated from his mossy green mouth. Grasping his thin beige covers in his claws, he tugged the covers up until they completely shrouded his head in the delicate fabric. Stretching out his legs, his toes pressed against the warm material and his legs curled the fabric around until he was completely tangled. Perspiration slowly soaked through his faded pajama shirt and plaid pants from the lucidity of his dreams that always seemed to involve running _somewhere._ As a low growl forced its way up his raw throat, he tossed the sheets off his head, his shaggy green hair in disarray, and threw out an arm to reach blindly for his noisy monkey alarm clock. His hand felt around until it connected with hard plastic and the changeling futility tried for a few minutes of immense torture to find an 'off' switch. When he finally had enough and thought the screeching of the primate was even too much for _him_, he grabbed the device roughly and in one swift motion the monkey was sailing across the room and impacted with wall sounding off with a large clatter.

"Too early..." he groaned, sliding himself lazily out of bed and onto his cluttered carpet floor. Items were thrown this way and that as he observed his completely disorderly room. Laundry accounted for most of the mess, but the rest was made up of mostly video games, snack foods, and junk he couldn't even recall buying. As he twisted around and made a move to get up, his sheets stuck to his faintly sweaty body. His footsteps fumbled and his motions were clumsy. Giving a startled cry when he took a step forward, he found himself falling face first on the carpeting, a pile of dirty laundry finding it's way into his mouth. "Mmfph!" he gave a muffled squeak as he spat out the disgusting tasting clothes. Maybe, he thought, he should invest in a better cleaning system.

Scrambling wildly he managed to find his balance and reached around to disentangle himself from his mass of sticky sheets. His toes crinkled on the colder carpeting as his lips pushed themselves into a tight grimace. Mornings were not good. _Ever. _Taking a step forward he immediately regretted it as something sharp protruded it's way into his calloused vibrant flesh. Stifling a curse, he chewed his lower lip in frustration, deciding just to make a mad dash to the door, falling against it gratefully. He threw it open and barely squeaked out of his room before he pressed the 'close' button. Propping himself upon it, he slouched down, placing a hand on his quickly beating heart. In a panicked motion, he swung his head left and right to peer down the dark hallway to see if anybody had caught his dramatic—and slightly embarrassing—struggle. Sure enough, he sighed, no one had. He reached up a clawed hand with nails that were begging to be trimmed to run it through his tousled hair. It did little good, for his bedhead refused to be put down without a fight.

Beginning to trot down the corridor at a jaunty strut, he realized that there was at least one benefit to his less-than-graceful face-plant on the floor. At least he was wide awake now.

He entered the Common Room, large yellow doors parting regally. Giving them a slightly theatrical head-tip and flashing grin, his arms swung carelessly at his sides as he hopped into the room. His bare footsteps echoed on the cold hard floor as they revealed ghastly quiet surroundings. Beast Boy's lips parted slightly, drawing in a loud breath as his bushy brows knit together in genuine confusion.

"Dude, where is everybody?" He mused aloud. Through the windows he could see the dawn just beginning to peek through the clouds with the blood red sun making its presence known. His gaze traveled restlessly around the room searching for anything familiar. Cicadas could still be heard chirping in the slight darkness outside. The shapeshifter paused a minute while his foggy brain tried to process his observations. All of a sudden, a small light bulb went off as he looked around wildly, eyes falling upon the blinking digital clock on the stove. His heard thudded a bit faster as his hands clenched into fists at his sides, nails digging into his rough palms uncomfortably. In one swift decompression, he let out the breath he didn't know he had been holding and his lips turned down into a slack-jawed frown. "I'm going to _kill _Cyborg...!" Seconds ticked by as the blinking display taunted him with the freakishly early numbers flashing 5:59am. Everyone knew Beast Boy _never _woke up before ten. It just wasn't healthy to be up at this ungodly hour! To reset his alarm clock for 4 hours earlier was a sick, sick prank. But, a pretty good one, he had to admit. He'd keep it in mind for a future endeavor with his robotic friend.

With those vengeful thoughts on his brain and a smile on his lips the changeling found himself at a loss for what to do. He stood there for a minute feeling dumbfounded by the prospect of having the extra time. Normally when he woke up he'd lounge on the Common Room couch for a few minutes, watch the good cartoons that came at ten-thirty, pester Raven—who had probably already been up for hours, mind you—with some asinine jokes or silly grin, flirt with Starfire to annoy Robin and force a grimace out of Raven, and play some video games with Vic before he realized he'd forgotten to eat breakfast and that it was already time for lunch. Now, with his impromptu wake-up call, his typical schedule was ruined. What _was_ he supposed to do? It was as if a breach in the very fabric of the space and time continuum was breaking down. The green changeling was at a complete loss.

That is, until his stomach began to growl with an unpleasant gurgle and squelch of familiarity. "Well, I'm already up, so...might as well," he muttered to himself, cutting off mid-sentence to shuffle to the fridge, dry-skinned feet making scraping sounds on the smooth tile. Pulling open the door, he stuck his head in, white fang glinting in the fluorescent light. His bright emerald iris's lit up with a delighted spark as his gaze fell upon a fresh plate of tofu bacon he'd picked up from the market...a while ago. But, it was probably still good, right? He gave a slight shrug before pulling it out and placing it down on the counter in a careless manner. After that, he waded around in search of a pan to cook it with, finally finding one on the bottom stack of piled up pots and pans. Decidedly, he pulled out the very last one on the stack, only regretting his decision at the last second when rest came tumbling down in a mess around him. They landed on the hard floor with a huge bang, clattering around him as he fell on his backside—half out of clumsiness, partially from defeat. His legs splayed out on the harsh floor, a chill seeping through his pajama pants and creeping into his being. His lower lip jut out in a childish pout. Giving a large groan he grabbed the pan closet to him and threw it on top of the counter with the air around him resounding in a loud barrage of clanks. Putting the others back one by one, he tried not to make too much noise—really, he did. When he had finally perched the last heavy pan precariously upon an unorganized newly wobbling pile of others, he felt confident in slamming the cupboard doors closed. He couldn't help but cringe slightly when he heard an enormous clatter from inside the vibrating cabinet. Pausing a moment, he debating fixing it again, but his eyes were torn away from the wooden fixture by the sound of approaching footsteps in the hallway outside.

The doors whooshed open with only a whisper of mechanical clicking. Immediately, a grin spread across the changeling's face completely covering it in pearlescent toothy excitement. The air filled with the presence of another person when careful footsteps faded into the tile floor, being swallowed up by the swish of a cloak. Beast Boy was just about to pipe up with a greeting when a raspy and tired voice floated through his ears.

"Oh, how delightful. I thought perhaps an angry stampede of circus elephants had decided to take refuge in our tower. Now, I see, it's just _you._" Raven droned in her typical sarcastic monotone. At a time when Beast Boy didn't know her as well, he might have taken offense to her callous remarks. But as his eyes roamed her facial features, slowly dissecting her with precautionary uncertainty, he could see something else. As she stood in the Common Room entrance with her arms folded and a sour expression on her face, her violet irises twinkled with something resembling humor, and he could see that clearly now. Taking a deep inhale through his nostrils he felt a softness radiate off of her, her usual tense scent nowhere to be found. His white grin only became bigger, sparking fang glinting in the early morning light.

"G'morning, Rae!" He piped first, "Ah, my bad, did I wake you up?" He added as a careless afterthought. With a roll of her eyes, the hooded empath walked towards him until she was directly facing him.

"Technically, no. I usually wake up about now, but you did interrupt my meditation." Though this sentence coming from her pale lips would typically be said with a scathing menace that made the poor boy cringe, this time there was nothing but a dreamy air to it. Beast Boy's pointed ears flickered back and forth in tune to her breathy inhales and exhales as she studied him. He reached up a hand curiously to scratch at his head absentmindedly. "It's quite out of the ordinary to find you up as well at this hour. I thought you had some sort of code that required you never be woken up before ten?" She speculated, trying to appear disinterested. The boy peered at her curiously while idly wondering why she was making such an attempt at small talk—something he knew she gravely detested.

"Heh, um, yeah. Vic decided to play a prank on me and reset my clock." Beast Boy admitted sheepishly, feeling slightly embarrassed for falling for such a trick. Raven let out a snort—almost long enough to be defined as a laugh, but it cut off with an abrupt halt before it reached it's full potential. His lips twisted into a flat line, wishing that maybe she'd decided to continue. As childish as it sounded, he still always sported the futile hope to manage a giggle from her.

"I see," she replied simply while never ceasing to study his actions. Feeling pressured, the changeling shifted from one foot to another, distributing his weight in a nervous gesture. Her eyes traced over him, analyzing his movements, a glimmer of amusement peeking through a shroud of uncomfortable silence.

"So, um, how'd ya' sleep?" He asked slightly awkwardly. There was one thing about her that he never could quite figure out, and that was how she managed to unnerve him by just staring at him with that intent gaze that was so classically Raven. It brought a shade of pink underneath the skin of his cheeks, tainting them with a powdery blush. As if picking up on his growing apprehension, the empath shifted away from the changeling in a non-offending manner and turned her attention elsewhere. Her angular face tilted towards the window to examine the growing brightness of the approaching dawn. Beast Boy couldn't help but think how much her features could resemble a hawk's when she turned that concentration towards him, her mouth grimacing into a tight frown, making him suddenly become afraid of getting pecked to death by her unwavering rage. But now, her face softened into an unintentional pout as she peered out the window and folded her arms across her chest. Her posture slouched so it wasn't as typically rigid as ever, and she seemed almost relaxed. It perplexed the changeling. As of late, they'd become better friends, but he still wasn't quite accustomed to her being _relaxed_. It always seemed as if she was worrying about something. Not that he was complaining—of course. He valued the time the hooded girl decided to spend with him, a silly grin on his face all the while.

"Not particularly well, actually." Raven admitted, her throaty voice lowering a few octaves to a resonating whisper. Beast Boy's brows knit together in worry as he began preparing breakfast, clanking around on the countertops quite a bit.

"Really? Why?" He asked conversationally, not able to contain the concern from creeping into his tone. The pale girl's cloaked shoulders moved up and down in a shrug as her face hardened.

"Just a bad dream. It's not a big deal." Her nonchalant body language showed she meant what she said, but the slight quiver he detected in her voice said otherwise. Giving a long sigh, Beast Boy knew better than to pry into Raven's life, so instead he settled for trying to goad a smile from her.

"That's too bad, I'm sorry to hear that. You wanna know what my dream was about?" He piped, flipping over the tofu bacon in the pan in front of him and walked over to the toaster when he was finished. Taking Raven's silence as a cue to continue, he went on. "Okay, so, I was like, in this alien battle ship with space pirates. They wanted me to help them steal the treasure from the space robots. But, ya' see, the robots had already taken a hostage, so we couldn't get the treasure without first rescuing the hostage! And, so, we went in there, dodging their freaky laser shooter stuff and basically, I saved the day with my awesome shifting skills!" He puffed out his chest proudly, as if he had really in fact saved the day. Raven turned toward him, her lips pressed into a tight line, unamused. "Wow." Was all she said with a condescending shake of her head. Beast Boy couldn't help but feel defeated. All he had wanted was a smile and she even refused him that. Pouting, the teenager crossed his arms dejectedly.

"Fine, what was your dream about, then? If you think it's _so _much better than mine." Even as his sentence was coming out, he desperately wanted to bite his tongue and take it back. Raven's eyes flashed as she whipped her head around to face him, hood falling down around her shoulders with the effort. Her cheeks flamed and her features crystalized.

"I dreamt I ripped out my father's soul. And liked it." Her voice was a stony rasp and the shapeshifter recoiled at her tone alone. Biting his lip, he looked down at his bear feet, toenails curling into the cold floor to escape.

"Heh, oh. Well, I guess that's...better than my dream, after all." He said awkwardly, not raising his gaze to meet hers, which he was positive was a menacing glare. After a moment of uncomfortable silence, he heard a pop from the toaster and inwardly thanked it for the interruption. Quickly going to get it, he looked up and noticed Raven was already making her way to the couch. Letting out the breath he didn't know he was holding, he hung his head as he pulled the 4 slices of bread from the toaster and began to smear grape jelly all over them in an untidy and rather distracted manner. He could never do anything right around her. No matter how hard he tried, she always made him feel like an idiot. Inferior. Positively ignorant. But the thing was—he wasn't an idiot! Only around _her _did he act like one. He could hold a decent intelligent conversation. He could watch the History channel and enjoy it. Despite the assumptions of the other Titans, he read books other than comics. It wasn't just careless thoughts of nonsense that ran through his brain, there was more to the green teenager than most everyone thought. He was kind, caring, but most of all he was desperate for acknowledgement. It was a dull ache resounding in the bottom of his heart that ached for the acceptance of this one girl in particular. The one who he could never seem to get to break down her walls and let him in. The only one he could never act right around. The only one he was 'Beast Boy the idiot' around.

He grimaced and slapped the toast down on two separate plates and began to add his tofu bacon to both. Shuffling around the kitchen, he debated getting something to drink, but deciding it would be too much to carry, he just opted for the two plates. Hesitating, his gaze wavered as he stared at the back of Raven's violet-haired head resting on the back of the couch. He swallowed hard, debating if she would see his offer as unwanted or obtrusive. Looking down at himself, he felt utterly pathetic. Though he had gotten taller and filled out with more muscle in his 17 years, he still felt like a little kid vying for the empath's attention. She was small, slender, and only about a year older than he was. _Honestly, I shouldn't be this freaked out, _he thought, wanting so badly to be able to kick himself, _she's just a girl. __You've talked to plenty of girls, Gar. Just go and give her the food, dammit!_ Figuring that yelling at himself wasn't helping anything, he trotted over to her spot on the couch and stood in front of her. His eyes were anxious as he fumbled for the right words. She moved her gaze from her lap to rake over his body, unnerving him with her characteristic dissection.

"Can I help you?" She asked in her usual monotone. Beast Boy shook his head, a huge grin plastered on his face to avoid looking nervous. Raven typically didn't react well to people trying to do nice things for her. He still had the bruises to prove it.

"I just made you some breakfast." Offering her the plate directly in her face, she looked down at it over the bridge of her nose and tried not to look offended at the sloppily buttered toast and tofu bacon spread. Quiet seconds ticked by as he waited for any sort of acknowledgement, either a nod of thanks or preparing to be tossed out the window with a flick of her wrist. Gulping, the changeling prayed it wasn't the latter. When her gaze finally lifted to meet his own, he saw something, just a flicker of overwhelming appreciation in her purple irises, that made him go weak at the knees. Just as quick as he caught it, it slipped through his fingers like an elusive ocean wave and it was replaced by her characteristic emotionless stare. But he saw it. Saw something that made his grin spread wider across his cheeks so much so that it hurt. Something that made his heart race.

"Oh. Tofu bacon. Exactly what I was craving this morning." Came her dull reply. Beast Boy's bushy eyebrows rose in surprise.

"Really?"

"No." She snorted, almost a laugh, and rolled her eyes. "But, thanks." She added as an afterthought, not giving him direct eye contact. Though, that small admonishment of appreciation was enough for him. Plopping down on the couch next to her, he kicked up his legs on the coffee table and lounged back, picking up a piece of tofu bacon from his own plate and stuffing it into his mouth. Chewing noisily, he watched out of the corner of his eye as Raven gingerly picked up a piece of toast and nibbled on it delicately. Gulping down another huge bite, he silently wished he had opted to get drinks as well. As if picking up on this, Raven stood at once and made a motion to leave the room, but froze when she felt something warm attach itself to her wrist. When she looked down, she saw a surprised Beast Boy staring up at her with wide emerald irises, hot hand grasping her own petite one.

"Wait—um, I mean, where are you going?" He cleared his throat, letting go of her hand as if it had scalded him. A wry smile peeled itself across Raven's lips as she walked from the room, leaving a confused changeling in her wake.

"Relax. I'll be back." She called over her shoulder.

Beast Boy sat on the couch, nervously chomping down on his toast. Had he said something to offend her? But they hadn't even been talking! Did he smell weird? He sniffed himself subtly, not noting any obtrusive odor other than his usual musky scent. Was the tofu bacon _that _bad? He knew it wasn't her favorite, but it couldn't have been that awful. Letting out an enormous sigh, he felt even more ignorant than before. He couldn't even make her breakfast without messing that up.

After what felt like forever, his ears flickered with the sound of an approaching heartbeat. Immediately he swiveled in his seat and a giant smile broke out on his face when he saw the pale girl returning to the couch. She held two mugs in her hand, curling steam rising from them both. Raven took a seat next to him, her leg brushing his gently as she did so. An unexplainable rush of warmth came from that small gesture of fragile touch, and Beast Boy couldn't help but try to hide the blush that rose to his cheek. _Is there something mentally wrong with you, BB? Hold yourself together, man!_

"What's this?" He asked, desperately trying to escape the gnawing feeling of her knee resting against his. It was a casual touch to say the least and Raven barely seemed to notice it, if she did at all. She offered him a red mug, holding it with both hands after she set down her own.

"Herbal tea. Be careful, it's quite hot." She explained, something resembling a smile on her face. Her lips curled slightly, painting her face with a lightness he wasn't accustomed to seeing. He quite liked it.

"Oh, dude! Awesome! You drink this stuff religiously, so this has gotta be good." Her teensy smile was seemingly contagious as a huge grin spread across Beast Boy's wide mouth as he spoke. Raven lowered her eyes as he leaned forward further than necessary to take the mug from from her as she felt his warm breath coat her face, his warm and familiar scent washing over her in comforting waves. A shiver ran up the shapeshifter's spine when her bowed head suddenly rose to find itself incredibly close to his own. In a rapid movement, Beast Boy cupped his hands around hers, fingers lingering on her tinier ones before pulling the mug into his hands. As he brought the steaming liquid to his face he couldn't help but notice a peach tint to the usually pale gray skin of the girl's cheeks. A small chuckle forced it's way from his lips before he sipped the tea.

"So, how is it?" Raven finally asked after she composed herself with a petite clearing of her throat. Trying to hold back a cough, the changeling tried to hide his slight revulsion to the bitter liquid as best as he could. Twisting his lips into a tight grimace, he stomached as much of it as he could before pulling the hot cup away from his face, pasting the least offending expression on his face he could manage.

"It's, uh, really hot. But super good! I really like it." He bobbled his head up and down furiously. Rolling her eyes, the girl just chuckled a cynical snort and shook her head.

"Mhmm, I'm sure you do. And just a head's up, Logan, you forget I'm an empath and you're quite poor at concealing your emotions." Blood rushing straight to his face, the boy turned a deep scarlet. Grimacing, he waved his hands in fervent denial, splashing around the molten liquid around obliviously as he did so, forcing Raven to dodge the droplets.

"No! Seriously, I like it!" He protested, falling closer to the girl in the process of his wild movements. "I mean, I totally do! I just...I mean, it's like this...I really think that, um, it's great!" This time, his over-the-top reaction forced a real laugh from her, deep and throaty. Her eyes squeezed themselves shut and drew up in crinkles in the corner. Her lips pulled up in relatively wide grin—for Raven's standards, anyway—and she crouched over with her hands on her knees as she chuckled softly. The changeling's wild motions slowed to a complete stop as he just paused to watch her. The sound of her delicate laughter replayed itself over and over again as he was frozen in place, just staring at the amused girl. Finally, he felt as though he had done something right. He had made her laugh and he hadn't even needed to resort to his ever-existing arsenal of knock-knock jokes.

Halfway through her increasingly entertained reaction, Beast Boy's hand had moved to rest on the petite empath's shoulder. Neither of them knew really what they were doing, but Raven paused in her laughter to look up at him with curious violet irises, traces of a smile still on her pale lips.

"I, um, thought the tea was really nice, though. Thanks, Rae." Beast Boy moved his hand from it's foreign position to scratch at his messy hair absentmindedly. Raven nodded solemnly, regaining her typically stoic posture.

"It's an acquired taste, it might take a while to get used to." She stated simply. Nodding his head a little, the changeling felt himself returning to his usual awkward state around the girl. He grimaced, feeling completely helpless to figure out how to prevent the inevitable from happening. His jaw unhinged and his fang peaked out above his lip as it so often did when he was about to speak, but he was interrupted by the swooshing of the Common Room door. Inwardly, he bristled, annoyed. This was _his _time with Raven, and that hardly ever happened. His eyes darkened as he watched Raven's neck crane to study the handsome Boy Wonder as he shuffled into the room, even more tired than Beast Boy had been this morning.

Robin's hair was tousled in an unbelievably unkempt mess and dark shadows hid underneath his ever-present mask. He tugged around at the wrinkled white shirt that clung to his muscled form. His thin lips set in a grimace as he trudged into the room groggily.

"Well if it isn't our o' fearless leader awake at last!" Beast Boy rolled his eyes, uncharacteristically sardonic. _Stupid Robin, always ruining my mojo._

"You're one to talk, Beast Boy. Isn't your one rule that you never wake up past, what, noon?" Below the mask, it was obvious he was rolling his eyes around restlessly. The changeling gave a halfhearted shrug and offered a knowing grin to the girl beside him as he answered.

"Yeah, I just thought I'd get up a little earlier this morning. To change things up a bit, ya' know?" To this, Raven offered a small snort of a sarcastic laugh as she shifted in her seat and adjusted her cloak. Stretching his arm out on the seat behind her, Beast Boy leaned back casually beside her, watching their leader fumble around dazedly in the kitchen.

"Oh, and thanks _so much_ guys for starting a pot of coffee. Really, it means so much." Robin growled sarcastically as he gestured frustratedly to the empty machine on the counter.

"No problem, Rob! My pleasure!" Beast Boy waved a hand abstractedly towards him with a wink. Grumbling explicatives geared towards the green teenager under his breath, Robin clanked around in the kitchen until his reign was cut short by a certain vibrant-eyed alien girl bursting through the door. Being the only 'morning person' in the tower, the remaining Titans normally suffered through her upbeat moods in disgruntled silence to refrain from offending the Tameranean.

"Morning greetings my friends! I hope you're all doing exceptionally well!" Starfire beamed. It was painfully obvious to both teenagers on the couch that their leaders mood was immediately softened as soon as the exotic girl made her entrance into the room. While Raven was mildly disgusted by this fact, Beast Boy intended to put it to good use. A wicked smile crept to his lips as he slid off the couch and strutted into the kitchen.

"Morning, Star! You're looking awfully radiant this morning." He said in the most suave voice he could manage. From the couch he could hear the warning cluck of Raven's tongue.

"Don't start, Logan." She cautioned. The boy merely waved her off with a flick of his clawed hand.

"How'd you sleep, cutie?" He continued while waggling his eyebrows towards the redhead. Starfire emitted a chirping giggle as her gaze slanted towards Robin who was doing his best to ignore the whole purposeful encounter. "You must be tired, 'cause you were just running through my mind all night."

"Oh, Azar." Raven sighed from the couch as Beast Boy struggled to keep a straight face. Averting his eyes to Robin, he noted the boy had begun to silently simmer with annoyance regardless of his attempts to conceal it.

"Please, friend, I don't think I understand. I have not been doing any running, and I've certainly been asleep all night. I must say no to your question; I'm not very tired." The confused smile on Starfire's face made it all the harder for the changeling to continue, but he was certainly no quitter. He slid right up next to her until they were almost touching and leaned forward just enough to earn a rupture of good-natured giggles from the alien before he heard a shattering crash of something breaking.

"What's that in your eye? Oh, it must be a twinkle." A series of disgruntled coughs could be heard from the kitchen. "Also, Star?"

"Yes?"

"Can I get some directions?"

"I don't like where this is going..." Raven mumbled. Beast Boy simple waved her off once more.

"Of course! Where to?"

"Your heart." At this, Beast Boy finally felt victory well up inside of him when Robin threw the coffee pot down and slammed the refrigerator door shut with such force he could feel the vibration from feet away.

"Oh my god, that is _enough_!" Robin boomed. Feigning surprise, the shapeshifter turned his wide innocent eyes on his leader.

"Enough of what, exactly?" He made a mental note that it had only taken 3 cheesy pick-up lines to get to the Boy Wonder instead of his usual 5. Perhaps he was feeling especially territorial today. Who knows, maybe it was his time of the month. Beast Boy tried to hold back a laugh at his own hilarity as he strutted over to the couch while Robin stood glaring at him while Starfire cooed comfortingly in his ear.

"Please, Beast Boy, you know exactly that it's completely awful to tease Starfire like that and I just can't believe—" He cut off abruptly as Starfire whispered something in his ear. He swallowed hard before looking down, a blush on his cheeks. "Just, don't let it happen again." He warned.

"Yeah, yeah. Whatever you say, o' great leader." He flopped down next to Raven. She shifted away from him in a demonstrative manner. "C'mon, Rae. You're not as disgusted by me as you lead on." Waggling his brows, he closed the distance to her within a moment while she just glared at him beneath her hood.

"Believe whatever lets you sleep at night, Garfield." He cringed at her use of his real name. "You know that he's right, you shouldn't do that."

"Oh, puh-_lease_, you know I'm totally joking!" Beast Boy threw up his hands in a wild gesture of denial. His eyes shone with childish sincerity as he pleaded with her. Raven sighed, shaking her head slowly. "Plus, you know I've only got eyes for..._you_." He added emphasis on the last word as he whispered it flirtatiously. When Raven lifted her head to meet his gaze, it was painfully clear to the green boy how close he had actually gotten. Their breath mingled and he could smell the faint traces of sweet herbal tea on her lips as he bent his head. Her skin shimmered in the morning light as her hood tipped back revealing a slightly shrouded face. The empath's bright violet irises glistened with mystery and hidden pain as Garfield slowly felt himself falling into their watery depths. He swallowed hard, his adam's apple bobbing as he braced himself against the back of the couch with his clawed hand. It tensed, his muscled contracting, as his tongue darted out to moisten the curve of his mossy lips. Raven simply stared at him intently as if she wasn't aware he was close enough that if he bent forward slowly he could close the distance with a kiss.

_...Wait, what did I just think? _

A blush crept to the changeling's cheeks, tainting them with a rich undeniable scarlet as he reeled back as if he had been shocked. The girl continued to stare at him with the same coolness she had before. She seemed virtually unaffected by his sudden proximity.

"Well it seems as if you're not quite as smooth as you think you are, Logan." She said with a faint smirk as she stood and brushed past him, her legs tapping against his as she walked. He sat, frozen in place, as he heard the doors to the room open.

"Oh, good morning Cyborg." His ears perked as he heard Raven's voice drone.

"Hey there, Raven."

"I must ask a favor of you if you don't mind. Please don't reset Beast Boy's alarm clock anymore. It's not healthy for him to be awake this early, it gives him a severe case of an inflated ego. Even more so than usual." She added as an afterthought as she brushed past the startled metal man to exit the room. As soon as the door shut behind her, Cyborg faced the rest of the Titans and scratched his head absentmindedly.

"She seemed pleasant. What did I miss?"

"Beast Boy being an idiot." Robin answered curtly while he continued to sip his coffee.

"Yeah, so just the usual."

"Yep."

Beast Boy let out an exaggerated groan from the couch as he flopped backwards wishing that he had obeyed his usual '10am' rule. It was going to be a long day.

~.o.O.o.O.o.O.o.O.o.~

"Why are there so many stores downtown? I think I'd be cool with one pizza place and a video game store. All these clothing stores? Yeah, no thanks, I'll pass." Beast Boy muttered as he sulked down the concrete sidewalk of Jump City with Starfire by his side. The mid-morning sun shone down on both of their faces and glittered them with the perfect amount of light to make the changeling's emerald orbs squint ever-so-slightly. His white fang peaked over top of his upper lip as his mouth formed a minute grimace. Beside him Starefire's arms swung by her sides as she trotted happily down the street with grocery bags in her hands. "And remind me why you don't just want to _fly _back home? Why are we walking everywhere?" He demanded grumpily. Turning to him with a grin the alien girl shook her head, her shining auburn waves shimmering.

"Friend Garfield," She began. A small groan escaped Beast Boy's thin lips as his shoulders hunched, lately everyone in the tower had taken a liking to calling him by his first name. "I believe it's called 'stopping to smell the roses'." Her smile was pure and full of lively energy. Feeling at a loss for words, the moody teenager simply shuffled along with her offering only a grunt of apathy.

"I can smell 'em just fine from the sky, and it's a lot faster, too." He said in a hushed whisper under his breath. Giving her electric green eyes a roll, Starfire's lips twitched upwards transforming her face into a breathtakingly beautiful picture of patronage.

"Why are you in such a hurry, friend? You seemed to be doing the moping all during our errands as well. Would it have anything to do with what occurred this morning with Raven and Richard?"

"I am _not _moping, and it definitely didn't have anything to do with Raven or that annoying stick-in-the-mud." Beast Boy continued to pout childishly. It wasn't that he was particularly upset about anything, he just felt the strong pull of annoyance. His tousled mess of hair blew in correspondence with the slight breeze as the girl in front of him slowed her pace to glance at him worriedly. He didn't have the stomach to meet her concerned gaze so instead he settled for staring at her glossy violet boots.

"Friend, I'm just worried that—"

"Listen Star, I didn't mean to get on everyone's nerves this morning, I was just overtired and," he took a brief pause to run his gloved hands through his green waves in a frustrated manner, "I don't know. I turn into a different person when I'm around Raven. It's like, I either have to be annoying the crap outta her or I stutter like an idiot. There's no happy medium and I guess I may have went a little overboard teasing Robin, too. Just _maybe._" He finally relented. A smile rose up to cover Starfire's face completely, tainting it with an unjustly picturesque angelic glow. Her red locks tumbled over her shoulders and blew towards his face, shifting her scent of radiant cheerfulness through his nostrils. She picked up the pace and began walking again, threading her bare tanned arm through his own clothed one. He looked over and shot her a charismatically cheeky grin.

"I understand, friend. It is especially easy to annoy dear Richard, despite his cool exterior. But, it was in my opinion that you were acting the 'stupid' and 'flirtatious' to make Raven jealous." At this, Beast Boy was stopped flat in his tracks, his tennis shoes skidding to a halt, tugging the alien with him. She turned to him and gave the furiously blushing boy a quizzical glance.

"N-no way! That's totally, just, what? No way! I would never—I couldn't, Star! Dude, where in the world did that come from...?" Bending over as if he had just finished running a long marathon, the flustered changeling propped his hands on his knees and locked his elbows. Raising his head up to meet her gaze he notice his friend looked almost faintly amused.

"Please don't fret so, Garfield. I was merely voicing my opinion, not fact." Her mouth twisted upward in a mischievous smile.

"Oh yeah? Then why do you have that look on your face? Spit it out, Starfire, just...why would you think something like that? Raven's just a friend, that doesn't even make any sense." He pulled himself upward and began to walk again, taking one of the bags from his friend's hands to distract himself.

"Ah, just friends, you say." She mused somewhat to herself. Beast Boy shot her a sidelong glare but chewed furiously on his lower lip, uncharacteristically patient waiting for her to continue. "You say you get the tied-tongued and frozen when you're around our friend. Also, you glance at her in such a way to make me think otherwise."

"What the heck does that mean?" Beast Boy spat meaner than he had meant to, but Starfire didn't seem discouraged by his menacing tone.

"Your pupils seem to dilate at a minimum of 45%, indicating your attraction." At this, the green teenager paused, his heart leaping into his throat, as she spoke. "Also, you get the 'starry-eyed' when she talks to you."

"W-what? Star, I really don't like her like that! Please, can we just...drop it?" His mouth suddenly felt dry just at the thought of the gray-skinned girl. He could picture her clearly in his mind's eye. In the later months her hair had grown out to lightly brush the tips of her delicate shoulders. Her body was just as petite and small-framed as she had always been, but it was undeniable the unique physical attributes she had made her unbelievably attractive in his eyes, to say the least. She wasn't like the alien girl standing next to him who was, of course, strikingly beautiful. With her vibrant doe-eyes and innocence, model-like physique, and obvious sex appeal— Starfire was undeniably one of the prettiest—if not _the _prettiest—girls in Jump City. But Raven had something about her. The scent that wafted from her delicate body into his nostrils did something to him that he couldn't explain. Her almond shaped violet eyes made his tongue feel swollen and unable to speak. The way her angular face tilted up towards his taller form to see him clearer from under her hood made his heart beat faster. Her throaty sensual rasp made his knees feel weak. Just thinking about her made him feel faint and nauseated. He couldn't figure out if the effect she had on him was warranted or unpleasant. But surely he didn't like her in _that _way. She was his teammate, his best friend. Nothing more. He tipped his face towards Starfire and prayed he wasn't blushing completely scarlet as heat rose to his face.

"If that's what you wish, friend, I will put the subject to rest." She spoke in a reluctant tone and gave a quick cluck of her tongue, but she was quiet regardless. Feeling a bit cheated, annoyance rose up inside Beast Boy's stomach like rotten tasting bile. They walked in silence for a few moments until he turned to her and spoke boldly.

"What about you and bird-boy? You two went on a date the other night, right?" At his question, an immediate twinkle sparked in Starfire's widening eyes.

"Why thank you for asking, Garfield! We are doing the 'dating' in the traditional Earthly custom, but..." She looked down sheepishly. Sighing, the changeling rolled his eyes.

"Oh boy, what did Boy Blunder mess up this time?"

"No, no! He hasn't done anything wrong, per say, he just has not done the official offering of being a 'boyfriend.' That is typical of relationships, correct?" Starfire seemed to inwardly ponder her question. Beast Boy gave a shrug and the bag he was carrying rustled as he switched the hands he held it in. After the trip to Tokyo, he had widened his dating expertise. He was no longer the inexperienced child he used to be. In fact, with the pressure of Cyborg's goading, he had matured in more arena's than one, taking a girl back to the tower on more than one occasion. None of those rendezvous or dates had ever meant anything though. When it came to strict relationships Beast Boy was still as much of a child as ever. Something about this fact made him feel ashamed in a way that twisted his stomach into knots. Maybe it was the way that Raven had looked at him when Vic had asked if he'd 'scored'. When he had been made to confess that he had indeed, nothing had felt more like a stab to the heart than Raven's seemingly cold indifference. But the look she had given him when he choked out the pained 'yes' conveyed more disgust than he had ever seen, possibly even anger had flashed through her eyes. Just once he had wanted her to approve of something he did, be impressed, even. Now that he thought about it, that was the last time he'd brought a girl back to the tower overnight—or even at all, for that matter. He chewed delicately on his lower lip, sucking it through his teeth, roughing up the skin as he idly pondered.

"Honestly, Star, I'm not the guy to ask about relationships. I think Rob is pretty clueless when it comes to them, too. If it were up to me, I'd just talk to him though, I guess." Again, he simply shrugged his shoulders feeling embarrassed. _BB, you're the last person on earth that should be giving anyone advice_, he thought angrily. Scuffing his gray shoes along the cement, he couldn't help wishing he had a time-machine to turn back the whole morning. Nothing seemed to be going right and he had no idea how to fix any of it. Hopefully Raven wouldn't be giving him the cold shoulder, and if he begged and pleaded maybe, just _maybe_, he could get out of the extra intense training he was sure Robin was already plotting for him as his revenge.

"Oh but friend, you've been quite wonderful company this morning and despite Richard's obvious displeasure at my taking you to run errands, I am sincerely overjoyed that you came with me. Many thanks, Garfield." As soon as Starfire turned her 40-kilowat smile on the poor boy, he could no longer feel any misery or the self-doubting pity he had just moments ago. All his unpleasant emotions dissolved into thin air as he returned her smile and playfully bumped against her side. Earning an airy giggle from the Tameranean, he looked towards her face which was positively beaming with enjoyment.

"Yeah, this was fun. I'm glad you weren't too annoyed with me to ask me to come." He joked and rolled his eyes. The alien just shook her head and looped her arm through his once again. They continued on like that for a few more steps until there was a shrill beeping from Beast Boy's uniform pocket. Looking over, he noticed the jewel on Starfire's collar was blinking well—their constant signal there was trouble. "Awh, man, what now?" He groaned as he answered his communicator.

"Beast Boy, there's trouble—Plasmus escaped the Jump Penitentiary. We need your help immediately, how fast can you and Starfire get down to the bank on Fourth Street?"

"Uhh..." Beast Boy paused, the immediate demand catching him off guard. Come to think of it, he was the absolute worst person to ask about directions.

"Robin, we shall be there in approximately 3 minutes! We will hurry!" Starfire shoved in next to the changeling to speak into the yellow blinking communicator. Robin's image on the screen nodded as things exploded in the background behind him.

"Alright, good." He said monotonously before he closed the communication link.

"Yeah, goodbye to you, too." Beast Boy said sarcastically. Rolling his eyes he turned to the alien girl who had already stowed their grocery bags behind the closest bench. Her eyes glowing green, she gave him a wicked grin and began to hover above the ground. Sighing, Beast Boy shook his head back and forth, his features transforming within seconds until he was a tortoiseshell hawk flying at least 20 feet off the ground with his companion right behind him.

.o.O.o.O.o.O.o.O.o.O.o.O.o.

Cries of an impending battle ran through Beast Boy's ears before he had even spotted his teammates already in combat. His wings flapped harder with each downstroke as he tried to fly lower and closer. His eyes narrowed to slits as his feathered neck cocked to the alien girl flying quickly beside him, hands and eyes already glowing green with fury. Squalling out a savage cry, in a second the changeling was spiraling in a vortexing dive-bomb towards his teammates.

Wind kicked up around him until beads of moisture formed in the corner of his slanted eyes. Gaining speed and momentum, he heard the shrieks of Plasmus until he was less than 10 feet away from the ground. Banking left, he snapped his wings open painfully, a shout of protest ripping unintentionally from his lungs, he summersaulted onto the ground in front of the sewage beast in the form of a large gorilla. The ground shaking in an earthquake-like reaction as he did so, he rose to his feet, fangs bared as a feral growl pulled up from his throat. His vision was diluted with purple and green as Plasmus screamed and charged towards him. He heard Robin's voice telling him to back up—he was too close to his foe—but the changeling knew what he was doing. Throwing himself onto the acidic monster he felt the sewage from it's body attach to his fur. Frustrated, he morphed into a hawk once again, burrowing himself deeper into the monster's lower abdomen, searching for the boy that he knew was inside. His vision was filled and contorted until he could no longer see, his eyelids forcing themselves shut, while his ears could no longer hear the strangled cries of his teammates. Letting out a squall didn't work either, as his beak filled with noxious fluid and his throat foamed with bile. Shooting forward, Beast Boy felt himself losing grip on what he was doing, his task falling on deaf ears, as his wings fell limply to his sides inside the monster. Defeat gripped the changeling's heart in an icy cold claw as he sank into oblivion.

Suddenly, he felt himself being drawn forward as his ears emptied of goo and resounded with pained cries of the villain he had previously been incased in. Energy surrounded him as he was torn from the belly of the beast and back into the light of day. Sunlight blinded him for a minute until he drew in a shuddering breath, his vision completely black with the exception of a white-outlined world. He saw his teammates hurdle towards the monster with all but one person. Bringing his gaze forward, his eyes met vibrant violet ones, continuing to remain colorful in the darkness of the swirling energy.

His limp body still in his bird form fell into petite arms that felt cold to the touch as he was too exhausted to change back. A small squawk escaped his beak covered in toxic fluid as he felt himself being lowered to the ground, out of the pale girl's reach. His wings flapped backwards painfully as his body went weak. He was so tired, and her arms felt so relaxing being wrapped around him. His eyes rolled back dreamily until she placed him upon the ground, pulling him onto her lap so she could see him better. Her cloak was stained with purple globs of the same fluid that filled so much of him. His heart ached as he watched her grimace, her hands tracing the patterns of his feathers. Her slender fingers pulled the purple gobs of sewage free from his small form as the rest of the team fought viciously against their foe, but he couldn't bring himself to move regardless. He was mesmerized by her hypnotizing touch. A burning desire rose in his heart as she shifted over him, her legs feeling so comforting beneath him. As she wiped the purple away from his eyes and he could see her clearly from his dilated pupils, the desire got the best of him as he ripped the strength from his limbs, fighting the torturous pain of the morph as he changed back into human form and collapsed once again against her legs, his head burrowing further into her toned stomach. Letting out a small groan, he blinked up at her, a dazed grin on his face.

"Hey there, Doc." He whispered, not bothering to sit up. His arms came up to rest behind his head as he felt completely relaxed. Raven scowled down at him angrily.

"Idiot," Was all she said. His jaw dropped open in an offended manner. Biting back a flustered retort, a smile graced the curve of his lips once again as he began in a tone as suave as he could manage in his damaged state,

"At least you're speaking to me. I wasn't so sure after I'd ticked you off this morning." His mossy eyebrows rose in a flirtatious manner as he lowered his hands, his gloved palm brushing against her pale thigh. He thought he detected a slight shudder at the contact. Everything was quiet besides the noise of the battle, and Beast Boy almost detected her leaning closer to him. Regardless of the soot tainting her uniform, she still smelled of fresh lilacs. His eyes twinkled up at her as he brought his hands down to rest on her ankles, grasping the tiny bones delicately above her purple boots. She swallowed hard, flickering her gaze away from his, but not objecting to his touch.

"Yeah, whatever. Are you alright? That was a positively stupid thing to do, charging into Plasmus like that. You almost got yourself killed, Garfield."

"Awh man, Rae, don't patronize me. We were having a moment there." Beast Boy gave the empath a quick wink before rubbing his thumb down her calf, earning another shiver. Quickly pulling away, the girl tried to pass it off as a forced cough. Knowing that he was pushing it, Beast Boy lifted his head off of her lap and turned away from her, testing his legs to see if he had enough strength in them to stand. In a defeating answer, he wobbled forward and collapsed upon the cloaked empath, throwing her hard against the concrete in a fast and utterly graceless movement. Her head snapped back and his arm snaked itself around the small of her back and grasped her head before it could crack against the concrete, his calloused palm cushioning the impact. The fight raged on behind them as Beast Boy heard a harsh cry of pain from the purple sewage monster as debris rained down upon them, shards of rock and dirt hitting them both. Impulsively, Beast Boy clamored on top of the girl, using his arms to prop him up on either of the sides of her hips, his body becoming a shield between Raven and the chunks of falling rock. He bent his head as bits and pieces hit his bare neck leaving a trail of small bluish-green bruises on his sage skin. Adjusting himself, he pulled his legs in closer so he was straddling the girl. Raven looked up at him with wide eyes and placed her hands on his chest gently. For a second, he worried she was going to push him off of her in an angry motion that wouldn't have been out of character, but instead, her hands just remained there frozen and motionless. Her fingers curled around his uniform fabric and he felt her nails on the sleek spandex. He watched as her brows furrowed in a confused manner, as if she had no idea what she herself was doing, completely unaware of her emotional state. He grinned down at her sheepishly and ducked his head closer so their breath mingled, his warm and comfortably salty while hers smelled of her usual crispness and herbal tea.

"Gar..." She began, her lips turning down in an uncomfortable frown. He quickly shook his head to silence her as he peeled himself off of her.

"You saved me once today, I was just returning the favor." He gave her a quick wink before standing on shaky legs, angling himself away from her to hide his scarlet blushing cheeks. Lowering her gaze beside him, Raven gave a slow nod.

"Yeah, okay." She murmured quietly. The changeling noted she radiated tenseness, but before he could say anything else or stammer excuses, she was already flying away from him and into battle once again. Beast Boy couldn't help but notice that the air around him didn't smell as sweet or feel quite as warm as when Raven was there next to him.

.

* * *

**A/N: **Welpp, what did you guys think? Reviews would be sincerely appreciated, but regardless, thank you so much for reading, I hope you continue to stay with me throughout this entire story, it's a blast to write. :D I know my updating schedule is erratic at best, and I'll try my hardest to respond to any reviews/messages, but just know that I thank you with all of my heart for any support that ya'll might give me! :D


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